Monday, May 30, 2011

Denver & Gladys have been looking forward to visiting the Singapore Zoo once again. This time it is double happiness as they will be participating in the Zoolympix event! Cool!! Initially, I was worried about the weather as it looked gloomy in the morning, lucky for us it didn't rain throughout our stay at the zoo.

Event: Zoolympix 2011 - Fun Goes Wild!

Date: 23 May - 12 June (Daily)

Time: 10am - 4pm

(Price: $2 per Zoolympix passport )

(Normal park admission charges apply.)

Welcome to Zoolympix! Olympians get ready!! Smile!!

Our little olympians will need to go through 6 game stations in order to complete the activities in the Zoolympix booklet.

Hand-some Otters

Leaping Tiger

Power Pollinators

Ele-fun Foot

Awesome Orang Utan

Shoot-em Archers

The game stations are scattered around at various parts of the zoo. Little olympians will put their athletic skills to a test and judges will note down the top 5 to enter the Hall of Fame! Do not be disappointed even if you are not within the top list! All olympians are entitled to a free gift and upon earning all the stamps and completion of the booklet, there is a Sure-Win Lucky Dip!

We decided to start the games from the stations furthest away from the park.

Shoot-em Archers: Denver and Gladys first put their aiming and accuracy skills to the test. They need to use their water guns to shoot down 3 insects within the shortest time! Daddy helped our little girl and so she was able to complete her quest faster than Denver. :) This is one of the game stations the children enjoyed most.

Awesome Orang Utan: Oh my!! Monkey Bars!! The childrens' 'worst enemy'! Our little olympians have not been trained for this event and needed help to get them across safely. Hahahaha.. :)

Ele-fun Foot: Our olympians do not have foot as big as the elephants, let's see if they can walk across the logs within the shortest time in their boots. Little help from Daddy please. :)

Power Pollinators: This is a test of speed and intelligence. :) How many coloured balls can you stick on your 'sticky' vest and place them in the respective coloured flower baskets within 30 seconds? Denver and Gladys had a good run and put in their best effort! Denver got 12 balls and nearly got listed in the Hall of Fame. :)

Leaping Tiger: How far can our little olympians 'leap'?? Answer: 1m. ^_^ (Ok.. some discount from the amount of walking and running they had earlier.) Highest record on the Hall of Fame was 2m! Wow! Even Mommy cannot jump that far.

Hand-some Otters: The otters are definitely cute and handsome. At this final station, the children will need to close their eyes and based on their touch and feel to grab the correct items from the water tank.

Yes! Our Little Olympians have completed all the events in the Zoolympix! Apart from the free gifts, they were also lucky to pick a very nice prize in the lucky draw dip! An Emperor Penguin poster for Denver and a beautiful pack of 12 post cards for Gladys! Daddy made some donations and we also bought a nice storybook home for the children.

Apart from the Zoolympix activities, if you visit the park during the weekends, there are more special programs to keep the children entertained!

Saturday, May 28, 2011

If you have been driving along Sengkang East Drive, you might noticed that there is a stretch of street lamps and a walkpath alongside the Sungei Serangoon. This is a new extension of the Serangoon Park Connector that now connects to the Punggol Promenade Riverside Walk.

After our dinner, we took the kids out for a leisure walk and 'ride on the Park Connector Network (PCN) experience'. :)

There is a lot of greenery along the way and while many people are jogging and cycling on the tracks, we strolled leisurely along the river. We walked under a bridge and at times, we saw aeroplanes and bigger birds flying past.

It is about 2.8km away from the restaurants @ Punggol to Punggol Park. We started from mid way and spent about 30mins to complete the ~1.4km walk. We took a much longer time as Hubby and the children have been waiting patiently for me to catch up (who was busy taking photos along the way).

Gladys was tired and Daddy had to give her a 'lift'. :)

By the time we reached our destination point, the sun has set and the lights were up. Further up ahead will be the Lorong Halus Wetland, but we decided to give it a miss as there is still a distance back home. We ended up having supper at Popeyes and our little workout earlier went down the drain.....

Nevertheless, I enjoyed our little walk, the scenary and looking forward to complete the route up to Punggol End upon completion. :)

Monday, May 23, 2011

June holidays is coming soon! While some families will be travelling overseas to enjoy this vacation break, what are the other activities we can engage our children in to make this a more fufilling holiday?

The fun doesn't stops here! From 14th May to 31st July 2011, it is the Children's Season 2011. Jointly organised by National Heritage Board and Museum Roundtable, this season seeks to inspire, educate children through various exhibitions and programmes. National Museum of Singapore

Brochures are available at all particpating museums, galleries and public libraries where public can get a copy and get a chance to receive stamps to redeem exclusive CS gifts. ^_^

Tuesday, May 17, 2011

From the Riverside Walk, we reached Lorong Halus Wetland. A pedestrain bridge is constructed across the Serangoon Reservoir that connects Punggol and theWetland.

"Lorong Halus Wetland (formally a landfill site) sits next to Serangoon Reservoir (Singapore's 17th reservoir). This area was been transformed under PUB's Active, Beautiful, Clean Waters (ABC Waters) Programme into a venue for recreation and community bonding to bring the public closer to water."

The design of the bridge is pretty distinctive and the view along Sungei Serangoon attracted many avid photographers to come here and take their shots.

View of Serangoon Reservoir from the pedestrain bridge.

Welcome to Lorong Halus Wetland! :)

There are a couple of boards around providing the public with more information of the Wetland. Here are some of the interesting facts.

From 1970 to 1999, Lor Halus was a dumping ground for Singapore's waste which occupied 234 hectares (more than 100 football fields).

Lorong Halus Wetland sits next to Serangoon Reservoir. Whatever we throw on the ground at estates as far away as Yio Chu Kang, Upper Serangoon and Hougang can be washed into the drains and end up in this reservoir.

Punggol & Serangoon reservoir together with Marina Reservoir increase our total water catchment to two-thirds of Singapore's land area.

Within the Wetland.

It's getting late and we need to be on our way back home. Although I did not get to stay on to see the lighted bridge sitting in the dark night, we managed to catch a glimsp of how it looks at sunset.

At sunset

We walked all the way back to the carpark where our car is parked. Pedestrain bridge->Riverside Walk->F&B outlets->Carpark. It has been an enjoying evening night walk and I'm sure we'll be back again. :)

Saturday, May 14, 2011

The Riverside Walk is part of the 4.9km Punggol Promenade which is still under development. There are exercise stations and destinated tracks along the river banks for cycling and jogging. After our dinner at one of the food outlets, we took an evening walk along the Riverside Walk towards Lorong Halus Wetland. (Both were officially opened on 5th March 2011).

Exercise stations

Dedicated jogging and cycling tracks.

Gladys adores the exercise stations most because she spotted many children playing with the sand and making sand-castles there. Naturally, she was pretty upset when she didn't get to play.

There are a couple of look out points where you can rest your feet and get closer to the water edge. I particularly enjoyed the greenery and tranquility along the river banks.

Sungei Serangoon

Resting and look out area

View of Sungei Serangoon from one of the look out points

The air is fresh and the sun is setting as we continued our brisk walk to the Lorong Halus Wetland. This is really a neat place with a combination of leisure and sports activities where you can consider to spend a quiet evening with your families and love ones. :)

Monday, May 9, 2011

Today is an off day for us due to the General Election day on last Saturday. We took the children out for dinner @ Punggol which is 'hidden' along Tebing Lane (off Punggol East Road). This quiet corner is becoming a popular spot for dining and various sports activities. During evenings, there are many cars and people who specially make their trip down for dinner and work out.

The nearest LRT station is Riviera and there are a few buses (e.g. 3, 85, 83, 569) stopping by Punggol East - Opp Blk 166A. Sheng Jia Temple is located nearby and you will not miss the prominent @ Punggol sign at the entrance.

Currently there are four food outlets operating in the area with the fifth one opening soon. Popeyes is the first to start it's business here late last year and a distinctive landmark here. :)

Popeyes

Address: 10 Tebing Lane, #01-05, Singapore 828836

The other outlets include:

Xian Seafood Restaurant & Bar

Address: 10 Tebing Lane, #01-01, S828836

Shin Nichi (新日)

Address: 10 Tebing Lane, #01-08, Singapore 828836

Uncle Leong Seafood Restuarnt - Opening soon! :)

Frienzie Bistro & Bar

Address: 10 Tebing Lane, #01-02, Singapore 828836

We decided to dine at Frienzie for our post Mother's Day dinner. :) The weather has been extremely hot recently and sitting inside the non air-conditioned restaurant doesn't help to cool us off. I do appreciate if there are more ceiling or standing fans though.

Photos taken with Denver & Gladys at Frienzie. :)

Apart from the orders that was placed wrongly, the food and service was pretty ok. As the night falls, more diners filled up the restaurants for food and drinks. Long queue is spotted at Popeyes and it is definitely a different sight in the night compared to the day.

Another reason to make this place attractive is you get a good view of Sungei Serangoon. Lorong Halus Wetland is also located nearby and diners can go for a walk after their dinner. A great dining hideout especially so for Punggolians and Sengkangers. :)